Discussion Forum

Hi, I’m a feminist zinester from Belgium and I’m also doing some DIY research into zines.At the moment I’m writing an article on zines about body norms and resistance. To get a variety of voices in…Continue

we are immensely excited to announce that the topic for hoax #9 will be feminisms and VULNERABILITIES, and we are eager for feminists of all backgrounds and genders to submit! potential ideas for…Continue

Call for Submissions — Just a Bit Radical Magazine:Are you a member of the punk, GLBTQ spectrum, or a straight ally? Are you tattooed, pierced, modded, or do you listen to your music too loud? Have…Continue

Asuang is an umbrella term for creatures that people our imagination. As blood suckers, they engender in us, a fear of the dark, of morbidity, of paleness, of incense. The fear that desires, the fear that suffocates, not just creatures but open spaces and high places. Fear of beings that when looked at mirrors or through other eyes, resemble perhaps, ourselves? Then here maybe, there be monsters?

Asuang then calls not just for darkness but for hallucinogen, psychedelia, kaleidoscopic narratives in whatever genre.

THE FINE PRINT 1. Send all submissions to papermonsterpress@yahoo.com with the heading: ATTN: ASUANG SUBMISSION 2. The deadline for submissions is on May 31, 2012. 3. Payment is one contributor copy and that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from seeing your name in print. ;) VIVA SMALL PRESS!

Topic: Essays, anecdotes, comix, collage, & poetry from trans and genderqueer folks telling stories of adolescence and puberty. Take that as broadly or narrowly as you'd like; literally how your body was changing and how your brain was dealing with it, or going to a dance and how that made you feel, to coming out to your family, friends, teachers & classmates.

Why/Purpose: Puberty and adolescence are hard for everyone but it's extra alienating and difficult when you feel alone and or radically different from everyone else. I want this zine to be an offering to trans and gender queer kids who need to see themselves in print, to know that they are not alone. I want the stories to offer comfort and hope to some young people who may be struggling. I would like the zine to be a resource for trans and gender queer students and a way to open the eyes and hearts of cisgendered students, parents, and teachers.

Send submissions to Brilliantmistake01@gmail.com

Please send as a basic word document with "Zine Submission" in the subject line. Art submissions should be 300 dpi scans or for bitmap line art 600 or more. Send submissions by June 1, 2011.

Feel free to e-mail me at Brilliantmistake01@gmail.com with any questions. Thanks! Carrie

neither doll houses nor tree houses: on living outside of the gender binary

finished in under 24 hours for the chicago zine fest, this zine focuses on the ups and downs of finding myself outside of the gender binary and attempts to both de- and re-construct various questions about my own gender as well as gender in general. three separate sections discuss feeling pushed out of femininity, how masculinity is viewed as inherent and femininity is viewed as a fictitious performance, how striving for the “perfect balance” of two genders is not plausible nor an adequate solution, acceptance or tolerance (or neither) that i feel in specific spaces, how my radical friendsmisgender and disrespectme more often than my non-radical ones, the (non-) accessibility of queer jargon and language, how coming out has garnered me the most intense gender assumptions yet, dealing with friends who don’t “get it”, my desire to validate my own identity without stepping on the identity of others, and checking white privilege. 32 pgs, ½ size, b&w. $2-3 or trade. message me or e-mail youvegotafriendinpa (at) gmail (dot) com for more info!

“Not ‘Queer’ as in ‘Radical’ but ‘Lesbian’ as in Fuck You,” is follow up to “Reimagining Queer Community,” a twenty-four hour perzine I made in July, 2011. Since July, I have continued mulling over nuanced, and often controversial, questions regarding my association with the lgbt community at large. “Not ‘Queer’ as in ‘Radical’ but ‘Lesbian’ as in Fuck You” is a perzine that explores my recent decision to use the word “lesbian” as a substitution for “queer.” I also talk about male domination and sex-right in supposedly “sex positive” queer spaces, the perpetuation of misogynistic troupes and devaluation of lesbian identities within “progressive” and “feminist” communities, owning up to & attempting to combat transphobia that has historically emanated from within lesbian spaces, and queer as hierarchical social capital.

my issues with mental health have always been immensely difficult for me to assess, describe, and talk about. an intensely private person, i have kept most of my struggles to myself. in this zine, i attempt to investigate the traces of anxiety, depression, suicide, and alcoholism in my family’s history as well as my own difficulties with these issues. almost split into two zines due to volume, this issue is a hefty assortment of stories, thoughts, and emotions.

eight sections discuss: the secrecy surrounding my family’s history of suicides, a recent suicide in my family, my issues with anxiety and pushing emotions aside, my reoccuring suicidal thoughts and how my identities intersect with them, talking with a fellow queer/trans* friend struggling with suicide, assessing my tumultuous relationship with alcohol and deciding to become consciously sober, what i can do to manage and deal with things, and what i plan to do in the future. there is a trigger warning for the zine relating to depression, anxiety, suicide, self-harm, alcoholism, sexual assault, and abuse - please take care of yerself before you read this - it is intense.

this zine is extremely text heavy, black & white, 46 pages, and 1/2 size. for purchasing or trading, please e-mail youvegotafriendinpaATgmailDOTcom or get in touch with me on here!

The Self: personal growth & ways in which feminism has (or has not) pushed & challenged us / self-care & feminism / “the personal is political” – the importance of that statement paired with the necessity of challenging it / do we have a “true self” that escapes change? / how “coming out” alters the way that we relate to others & vice versa / stuff that others have tried to change about us (through force, coercion etc.)

Legislation: the pros & cons of legislative reform / does “radical” always mean a rejection of legislative reform? / obtaining legal aid / social factors that impact our relationship to the cops / when & if can the master’s tools be used to fuck with the master’s house

Relationships: our feminism has impacted our interpersonal relationships (with family, friends, partners etc.) / relationships between who we are and what we can (& cannot) do / trying to change ourselves in order to feel accepted / how does (& doesn’t) feminism accommodate people who hold different identities & come from different backgrounds

Language: evolution of terminology & identity descriptors / nuances of identity politics in feminist & queer circles / what terms we embrace and cast aside over time / applications of the “feminist” label

we also totally need lots of artwork (photos, collages, illustrations, drawings, paintings, comics, etc.)! particularly for background designs and things that compliment the written material.

please aim to send us yr amazing material to hoaxzine (at) gmail (dot) com by march 1st, 2012. if you are interested, feel free to e-mail us yr ideas for topics & artwork! as always, we are willing to work with you during any and every stage of the writing process. the sooner you send us yr work, the better!

also, we are still distributing back issues of hoax #3 – feminism & health, hoax #4 – feminism & hirstory, hoax #5 – feminisms & community, and hoax #6 – feminisms & communication, in addition to our perzines. please check out our etsy shop or email us if you would like to obtain any of these issues!

it’s been almost three years since we first began working on hoax. since 2009, hannah montana has been taken off the air, carrie brownstein picked up her guitar again, ugg boots are even more out of style, & those of us in the US can officially be detained indefinitely. neither of us can believe how much this project has expanded since its inception. thank you so much to every contributor, reader, & supporter of this zine!